6 October 1997

Mr. Michael Kennedy, Climbing Magazine

Dear Mr. Kennedy:

Nothing disturbs me more than to pick up a magazine such as yours, which I would normally enjoy, only to see someone slander the company for which I work. Your readers need to know, that while we acknowledge that Freeport Indonesia is a mining company with impacts to the environment, we are not the gross violators of human rights that the articles portrays us as. We hope you will set the record straight and print retractions of just some of the numerous inaccuracies in Mark Bowen's article entitled, "Behind the Indonesian Veil":

That Freeport personnel were involved in human rights abuses.

The author refers to a report by the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) which describes various incidents which allegedly occurred in Irian Jaya in December, 1994, and implicates Freeport employees. We condemn human rights abuses wherever and whenever they occur. Indeed, it was for this reason that we requested the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to set up a monitoring facility in the Timika area near our operations. The allegations made in the ACFOA report have been thoroughly investigated by five separate entities, including the U.S. Embassy, the Australian Embassy, the Catholic Bishop of Jayapura, the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia (KOMNAS HAM) and the ICRC. All investigated claims such as those irresponsibly set forth by your magazine and found no credible evidence of any wrongdoing by our personnel. Certainly these are facts worth mentioning.

That our operations are virtually closed to the press.

A lot of what the author writes in this article is opinion masquerading as fact and I urge your readers to consider the following: the author states that in applying for access through the mine site to the Carstenz, "the company (put) us off with a tactic that they've used before on journalists." The headline on the article is "Behind the Indonesian Veil" and its entire thrust is to suggest that the author is somehow lifting a "veil" of secrecy. The truth is that over the past three years, over three hundred journalists have been given complete access to the Freeport project area, including recent visits by The New York Times, Rolling Stone magazine, CNN, ABC (Australia) and, in late 1995, a three-week stay by two reporters from The New Orleans Times-Picayune. I would urge your readers who are interested in learning more about Freeport Indonesia to seek out these articles. Moreover, the author complains about not being allowed to freely roam about our mine area. I would challenge him to find a single operating mine, or any other industrial operation, in the U.S. where visitors are allowed to roam about unaccompanied. This is the rule for safety's sake.

That our Company offers only menial opportunities for the local people.

The author writes that "Token payments and menial jobs" for the local people is all the company provides in exchange for mining the area. Since 1989, Freeport Indonesia has provided over $125 million dollars voluntarily for social programs directly benefiting the local indigenous people. We have further committed to provide another $150 million dollars over the next ten years for these programs. In addition, the local people, of whom we employ over three thousand, earn over eight times the average national salary. Close to a hundred Irianese hold supervisory-level positions and the Vice-President for Community Affairs is of Irianese lineage.

That our employees carry guns.

The most troubling part of the article is the photograph of our "employee" posing for the authors camera with what is obviously a military-issue gun. We have seen this photo before and have tried to identify the person in the photo, but have been unable to do so. Let us repeat so it is perfectly clear: Our employees do not now and never have carried guns. That would violate Indonesian law and company policy. Moreover, company policy prohibits employees from posing with weapons borrowed from the military. We challenge the author to provide us with the name of the employee and the date the photo was taken so that we can take appropriate action.

Despite the suggestions of your author, we have frequently assisted climbers who have requested our help and many of our employees are climbers, so we are fully aware of the merits of the sport. However, please understand that we are in the mining business, not the resort business. Moreover, each year the Jayawijaya Climbing Club of Tembagapura, which consists completely of Freeport Indonesia employees, organizes a trip to the base camp area where climbers prepare for their final ascent of the Carstenz. And each year, the club hauls out approximately one ton of garbage left behind by other climbers.

I acknowledge that my company's activities have an impact on the environment. I also consider myself to be quite active, camping and climbing whenever I get the chance. I wouldn't work for Freeport Indonesia if I wasnt completely convinced that we were doing the best job possible in managing the operations impact on the environment. One thing that I'm also realistic about, is that the products that come from mines such as Freeport Indonesias help run the world. From computerized printing presses which require copper filaments to print magazines such as yours, to the simplest D-rings used (in great numbers) by climbers like the author of the article you printed, without the mining industry many everyday activities which we enjoy would be impossible.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Pressman, Public Affairs Manager, PT Freeport Indonesia